


Delivery Girl

by ReaderInsertBonanza (randarama)



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Nervousness, Possession, Reader you useless lesbian, Reader-Insert, Star Gazing, maybe a bit of second hand embarrassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-07-26 13:50:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7576366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randarama/pseuds/ReaderInsertBonanza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You didn't think you'd ever be a delivery girl for a Chinese restaurant. But you needed the money, and at least there was a cute engineer working upstairs. If you could figure out how to actually talk to her, that would be even better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You didn’t think your next job would be a delivery girl at a Chinese restaurant. You’d had your share of low paying customer service jobs, and you were hoping you’d finally found your way out. Unfortunately, since the last place you worked had fired you, you were between jobs at the moment and you needed the money. At least the place was close to your apartment.

It was your first real day today, and you were sitting around waiting for your first delivery. Your time came when you heard one of the waitresses call you over.

“We’re gonna start you off with something easy, okay?” She said, handing you the food. Her ponytail swished as she turned to point to the stairs at the back of the room. “Your first customer is Abby Yates. She and her friends own the place upstairs.”

“Oh, uh, okay. Isn’t that a bit too easy? Why did they even order takeout when the restaurant is a floor down?”

The waitress shrugged.

“Dunno, I don’t ask questions. They order food, you bring it to them. Good luck.” She turned and walked away, leaving you very confused. But, you supposed, it’s better than having to bike halfway across town.

You made your way up the stairs and walked into what you guess you would probably call a lab? There was junk all over the place, blinky lights, contraptions of all sizes. There was a receptionist desk to your right, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there.

“Hello?” You called out. “I’m looking for an… Abby?”

“Think you’re in the wrong place,” came a woman’s voice from around the corner. “Haven’t seen any nuns in here for at least a couple of days.”

You rounded the corner to see a woman with messy blonde hair, wearing a baggy jacket over some overalls. She was tinkering with some device but looked up when you approached.

“Nuns, abbeys, get it?” she said, grinning toothily. Oh no, she was really cute. When you didn’t say anything, her face started to switch from glee to confusion. Oh god, were you staring? How long were you staring? You let out a strangled laugh.

“Nuns, I get it! Because abbeys live in nuns- I MEAN, nuns live in abbeys! Yeah, I get it, that was really funny!”

The blonde woman just chuckled, looking slightly concerned for your wellbeing, and held out her hand. You stared at it for a second before realizing she wanted you to shake it. You shuffled the food around to your other arm, and went to grasp her hand. She shook it with a surprisingly firm grip.

“Dr. Jillian Holtzmann,” she dropped your hand to give a little bow, “at your service.”

You stood there again, staring like an idiot.

“This is the part where you tell me your name,” she said, before going back to work on… whatever it was she was working on. You babbled a bit, but you think you managed to get out your name with minor embarrassment.

You watched her tinker for a few moments longer when you realized you should probably ask where Abby was, when another woman began talking behind you.

“Sorry, we’re not taking any new clients today you’ll have to make- is that my food? Well look at what we have here, a delivery person who actually knows how to be on time. It’s some kind of miracle.”

The woman (presumably Abby) put the plastic bag down on the counter, looked through it, and gasped when she found that… the food was all there, you guess? She handed you the money with a smile.

“Tell Bennie he’s fired.”

“I don’t… think I can do that,” you replied.

“Congrats, delivery girl,” Holtzmann said as she slapped you on the back. “The way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach.” The heat from her hand between your shoulders felt like it was burning through your shirt.

“Oh woops, love to stay and chat but I think I heard them calling my name,” you lied, knowing fully well none of you had heard them call your name. You removed yourself from the hand on your back, and started making your way to the stairs. You glanced back. “See you next time, I guess?”

“Look forward to it,” Holtzmann said with a wink.

You felt heat rise in your cheeks and hurried down the stairs, hoping your new coworkers would be polite enough not to ask you why your face was all red.

 

* * *

 

Disheartened and somehow a little inspired, you vowed next time you had to deliver upstairs, you would actually talk to the cute engineer. The cute engineer with the wild blue eyes and messy hair and baggy clothes and dimples and just _completely kissable lips_ that you hadn’t stopped thinking about since yesterday when you met her.

Unfortunately, the next time you delivered food to Abby, Holtzmann was nowhere to be seen. You did, however, get to meet two more members – Patty and Erin – and the group’s… interesting secretary.

“Hey guys?” the man at the desk shouted. “I think there’s someone here to see you! Looks like she has some kind of… plastic bag for you.”

“Uh…”

“Ignore him,” came a voice from the booth a few steps away. The woman – Patty, you assumed, based on her necklace – rolled her eyes and continued. “He’s still in ‘training’.”

“There’s my girl!” You turned to see Abby walking towards you with another member of the team. As Abby handed you the money for the food, you heard the other woman stage whisper to Patty.

“Is this the cute delivery girl Holtzmann was talking about?”

“Erin!”

“What!?”

You think they said something after that but you’d stopped paying attention. Holtzmann had called you cute? She _talked_ about you? You couldn’t fight the grin that threatened to spread across your face. You were about to ask what exactly she’d said, when a voice came from behind you.

“Hey, it’s the delivery girl!” You tensed as you felt an arm drape across your shoulders and you turned your head only to come face to face (literally) with none other than Holtzmann herself. “What’s cookin’ good lookin’?”

Was it hot in there? It felt really hot. It must’ve been the steam from the kitchen downstairs.

“Hahahaha, you know what? I just remembered I have another delivery to make! We’re suuuper swamped right now gottagobye!”

You ducked under Holtzmann’s arm and all but ran back down the stairs, to be greeted by a decidedly un-busy restaurant (as well as a couple of stares). Talking to a cute girl was harder than you anticipated.

 

* * *

 

Okay, today was the day. You were going to talk to Holtzmann. You’d dressed up in your third cutest outfit (outfits one and two had been wasted on the last two days at work, since you had no idea to predict when Abby would order food again). Third time is the charm, right?

Your shift was winding down to an end and you were starting to lose hope that Abby would ever order food again, when you got called over to _finally_ make another delivery upstairs. You grabbed the bag and practically sprinted up the stairs, and then stopped just outside the door to collect yourself when you realized how you must’ve looked. Once you’d fixed your hair about two or sixteen times, you turned the corner and knocked on the open door.

“Knock knock!” You called out.

“Who’s there?” the receptionist asked.

“Uh, delivery,” you replied with a confused chuckle.

“Delivery who?”

You… didn’t really know how to respond to that.

“Wow, that was quick, even for you,” Abby said as she walked up to get her food. She gave you a once-over before handing you the money. “You’re all dressed up today, what’s the occasion?”

“Um, no reason really… Just felt like looking nice,” you replied.

“To deliver Chinese food?”

“Yo, listen,” Patty interjected from across the room. “You never know when you’re gonna run into someone cute at work. I got you, girl.”

“Haha, yeah… Someone cute…” Your eyes drifted over to Holtzmann. She was looking over at you with an expression that said she definitely appreciated your outfit, and you quickly whipped your head back to look at Abby. Had she been looking at you the whole time? Your brain told you to run back downstairs, but you fought the urge. You told yourself you were going to talk to the cute engineer, so you were going to talk to the cute engineer, god damn it!

“Sooooo…” You looked around, searching for something to talk about. If possible, there were even more gadgets and junk all over the place compared to the last time you were here. There was a wall with weapons, maybe? You also saw what you assumed were some uniforms hanging up nearby. “What do you guys do up here anyway?”

“You haven’t heard of us?” Abby said incredulously. You shook your head apologetically. “We’re only the most famous ghost hunters in the whole city!”

“Oh yeah, I think I might have heard of some of my friends talk about you guys actually…” you said quietly, but the damage was done.

“We got Patty over here on history,” Abby continued, dragging you around the room. “Me and Erin are on top of the theoretical stuff, and Holtzmann here makes the toys.”

“I prefer mad scientific genius, but I’ll take what I can get,” Holtzmann said with a smile. Her leg was resting casually on the workbench in a position you probably couldn’t make your body do in a million years, and she was once again messing with some little device in her hands. There was a slightly too-long pause before you spoke up again.

“So… what are you working on?”

“It’s a death ray,” Holtzmann said, as if it was nothing. “But a really tiny one. It kills ants.”

“I…” you looked over at Abby, who shrugged, and left to go eat her food. “Okay, tiny ant death ray. Cool.”

Holtzmann snorted, and looked up at you.

“I’m kidding, I’m just doing some upgrades on Abby’s PKE meter. When I’m done this baby will be able to detect ghosts with a waaaay bigger range than before. You ever heard of radio telemetry?”

“Um, no.”

“Should work kinda like that. Except without the radio waves. Or the transmitters. Or the huge receiver antenna.”

“So nothing like radio telemetry?”

Holtzmann just gave you another one of her grins, and swung her leg down from the workbench. She leaned over the table to get exceptionally close to your face, and you could hear your heartbeat way too loudly in your ears. Could she hear that? You swallowed nervously and hoped she couldn’t.

You were staring into her eyes, gaze darting down to her lips, wondering what would happen if you just kissed her right then and there. Would she kiss you back? Would her lips be as soft as they look? You watched as her lips said something you couldn’t hear over the pounding in your ears and the fantasies that were running through your head.

“W-what was that?” You asked. She smirked and you swore your legs were turning to jelly.

“I asked if you wanna help me with this.”

“I’m not sure I’m qualified.”

“I’ll walk you through it. Worst thing that happens is you lose a finger.”

A shout from across the room made you jump and startled you from whatever trance you’d been in.

“Holtzmann don’t hurt the delivery girl, I need her!”

She just laughed wildly, making her curls bounce over her face, then walked around the table to stand next to you, plonking the device onto an empty space on the workbench.

“All _right_ , let’s get this party started!”

Holtzmann reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of some tiny parts that were probably going in the PKE meter, along with what you think was part of a soldering iron, some wire, a screwdriver… how much room did she have in her pockets?

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re gonna take one of these,” she held up one of the tiny parts, “put it over here,” she pointed to somewhere inside the device, “you’re gonna solder it on there, and then you’re gonna do that three more times. Got it?”

You gave her a look that said you definitely did not get it. She laughed, and pat you on the back like she was consoling you.

“I’ll help you with the first one, m‘kay?”

What you were expecting was Holtzmann correcting you as you went. What you were not expecting was Holtzmann holding your hands, guiding them gently to where they had to go. Her hands were scarred and calloused from years of building and creating and you really, really hoped she couldn’t feel how sweaty your own hands were getting.

After guiding you through soldering two of the parts, Holtzmann let your hands go so you could do a third on your own. Much to your dismay.

She crossed her arms on the workbench to lay her head down, and watched your hands go to work.

“Not too bad,” she said as you were mid-way through soldering the final part in place. “You sure you don’t have some engineer in you?”

_Not yet…_ you thought. Or, you thought you’d thought it. Glancing over at Holtzmann’s (very, _very_ excited) face indicated otherwise. You dropped the tool like it was on fire. Oh god. You hadn’t said that out loud had you?

 “I MEAN UH. Youknowwhat I just remembered I should clock out! They’re gonna get really mad at me if I don’t hahabye, see you next time!”

With all eyes on you, you made it back down the stairs that day in a record time. A couple of your coworkers gave you some annoyed looks, but luckily didn’t ask any questions about how you were sweating like you’d just run a marathon.

 

* * *

 

The next day at work, you were both hoping for and dreading another delivery upstairs. Abby probably wouldn’t order delivery two days in a row, right? Maybe by the time she does you’ll be able to look Holtzmann in the face again.

You heard your name being called, and saw a coworker beckoning you over to the phone. You walked over and looked at him in confusion. Usually people wait until the food is done to give you delivery instructions.

“Someone on the phone for you, said she’s… your long lost great great aunt?” He handed the phone to you, which you took reluctantly.

“Hello?”

“Hey, great great grandniece! How’s it hangin’?” You sighed. You knew that voice.

“Holtzmann, I’m hanging up on you.” You said it as a joke, but it took all your willpower to not do exactly that and avoid the conversation forever.

“Is that any way to talk to your great great aunt?”

“Why are you calling me when you’re literally upstairs?”

“It’s easier,” Holtzmann replied. Maybe it was just the phone, but there was a waver in her voice that sounded almost… nervous? “Actually, I have a question for you.”

Your heart dropped into your stomach. Your mind raked through a million questions, filtered through the fact that she was calling you instead of asking you face to face. Maybe she wanted to ask you to send Bennie next time. Maybe she never wanted to see you again after what you said last night. Maybe-

“Hey, you still there?” she asked, cutting off your thoughts.

“Y-yeah, I’m still here. Um… what did you wanna ask me?”

You heard a noise that sounded like Holtzmann was anxiously clearing her throat.

“You wanna go out sometime? Maybe get a little engineer in you?”

Whatever sound came out of your mouth next, you weren’t quite sure it was fully human. The manager looked over at you, giving you a stare that said “that better be work related”.

“You’re gonna get me in trouble!” you whispered loudly into the phone.

“So is that a yes?”

You swallowed thickly before answering.

“…Y-yeah. I’ll go on a date with you.”

Holtzmann’s victory shout was so loud you could actually hear it from upstairs. You could feel the butterflies build in your stomach already as you laughed giddily.

“I’ll see you after my shift, okay?” you said.

“I could blow up part of the restaurant. Get you off early. If you know what I mean.” You could practically hear the wink.

“Holtzmann! Do _not_ blow up the restaurant!” you heard Patty yell in the background.

“I’ll talk to you later,” you said with a chuckle.

“Can’t wait,” said Holtzmann. You definitely heard a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why had you agreed to this date? Oh god, you were so nervous, you couldn't stop your hands from shaking. You were going to embarrass yourself again, just watch.

_Tap tap tap tap._

Your foot was moving on its own. You got up to stop it, but ended up pacing up and down the length of your tiny apartment. You stopped at the window, checking outside for the fiftieth or so time, then look at your phone. Five minutes.

You’d never been this nervous for a date before.

You went back to your pacing, stopping again to look at yourself in the mirror, fixing anything that didn’t look perfect. Any minute now-

A loud honking interrupted your thoughts. You walked over to the window and looked down, to see… was that a hearse? You watched as Holtzmann got out and waved enthusiastically up at you. Of course, what else would she have come to pick you up in?

You waved back at her to indicate you were heading down. You checked you had everything one last time, fixed a strand of hair in the mirror, and went to lock your door. As you descended the stairs you took deep breaths and told yourself to chill. Everything was going to be fine. Besides, you’d already embarrassed yourself in front of her more than a few times, and she still asked you out, right?

When you left the lobby, you found Holtzmann standing there with a huge (slightly damaged, possibly scorched, but still beautiful) bouquet of flowers. She practically threw them in your arms when you got close enough. She was bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet, and looking anywhere but you when she spoke. Apparently you weren’t the only one that was nervous.

“Sorry they’re a little uh… crushed. And burned. Had a little incident with some highly combustible equipment back at the lab.” She looked over at you finally, biting her lip. “…Do you like them?”

You laughed, and you could feel the anxiety start to slip away, little by little.

“Of course I do! They’re gorgeous!” Hotlzmann’s face brightened, and you felt a little proud for being the reason she was smiling.

She held out her hand for you to take, and she guided you to the passenger side of the car where she kindly held the door open for you to get in.

“Why thank you,” you said, sliding into the seat. She grinned in response, before sliding over the hood to get back to the driver’s side.

“So,” Holtzmann said, starting up the car. She still seemed a little tense. “I’m thinking… food.”

“Food is good. Anything specific?”

“Do you like pizza? Tell me you like pizza or this date is over right now.”

“Yes, I like pizza,” you replied with a chuckle. Holtzmann melodramatically wiped some imaginary sweat from her brow.

“How hungry are you, exactly? ‘Cause I know this great place that’s kiiinda far away, but it’s close to somewhere else I wanna go.”

She glanced away from the road for a second, waiting for your reply in a way that made you think she wasn’t as confident as she was trying to make herself seem.

“Anywhere is fine, Holtzmann. I trust you.”

She let out a nervous chuckle, but seemed to relax.

“Not sure that’s a good decision, but it’s your funeral.”

Holtzmann reached over and grabbed a CD from the stack that was just sitting in the cup holder, and shoved it into the CD player. You weren’t sure, but you thought the messy scribble on the label said, “totally sexy date tunes vol. 3”. “Don’t You Want Me” by The Human League started blaring from the car’s speakers.

The car began to swerve worryingly as Holtzmann danced along to the song and sung the chorus at the top of her lungs. You were _pretty_ sure she was going way off-key on purpose. As the end of the song faded out, you took a moment to get her attention. She turned the music down a little and glanced at you expectantly.

“Hey, so… I have kind of a weird question,” you said after a moment of quiet.

“It’s your lucky day,” Holtzmann replied, “weird is what I’m good at.”

“Um... what name do you want me to use? I mean, everyone always calls you Holtzmann, so if you want me to keep calling you that I can, but I thought maybe since we’re on a date it seems a little impersonal, but I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable by calling you Jillian, and I just-” you took a deep breath, pausing to collect yourself. “What do you want me to call you?”

You looked over at Holtzmann, and she was glancing over at you with a devilish smirk on her face. You weren’t sure if you were prepared for what she was about to say.

“You can call me anything as long as the neighbors hear you screaming it.”

“Oh my _god_.” You covered your face with your hands, but couldn’t help laughing anyway.

“For real, though,” she said with a grin still on her face. “Whatever you wanna call me is fine. It’s been years since anyone’s called me Jillian. Don’t really mind it anymore.”

“Anymore”? You kind of wanted to ask, but it seemed like a really personal subject. Too heavy for a first date, anyway. You pushed it to the back of your mind.

“Okay then… Jillian.”

Holtzmann giggled like a giddy schoolgirl that you suspect may also be planning to blow up the science classroom. You couldn’t help but feel a flutter of emotion fill your chest.

After that, you both fell into a comfortable conversation, talking about work and ghosts and who was the best member of ABBA, while classic 80s love(?) songs played softly in the background. Eventually you made it to the pizza place without incident. And you only occasionally had to remind Holtzmann that yes, you in fact should keep at least one hand on the wheel to be able to turn, legs do not count.

The building seemed like a typical run-down family restaurant, with a big neon “PIZZA” sign in the window that cast its glow into the parking lot. The bell jingled as Holtzmann opened the door for you, and you stepped inside.

You went up to the counter first, ordering two slices and a drink from the teenager on the other side, before sliding over to the register.

“Paying separately or together?” The bored looking cashier asked.

“Um, sep-”

“Together!” Holtzmann cut you off.

“Are you sure?” You asked, hesitant.

“Yep,” she replied simply, digging through her pockets for wadded up cash and a handful of change. When she was done, she shoved the pile over to the cashier, who just sighed and started counting it.

After paying, the two of you took your food and drinks and went to sit down at one of the wobbly tables in the corner. Holtzmann picked up her first slice and bit into it, letting out a groan of happiness.

“Thank god for cheese,” she whispered, mouth full. You laughed, taking a bite of your own pizza. She hadn’t lied – it was surprisingly good.

The two of you played 20 questions back and forth while you ate. Among many, many… interesting facts, you learned Holtzmann loved horror movies, she couldn’t sleep without the buzzing of some electric device nearby, and she’d almost gotten into CERN, but was rejected because of a “lab incident” she didn’t elaborate on.

At one point, you stretched your legs, accidentally bumping your foot with Holtzmann’s. You were about to apologize when she gave you a wink, and started sliding her foot slowly up your leg. You inhaled sharply. Which unfortunately meant also inhaling some pizza. You were coughing uncontrollably and quickly grabbed your drink, chugging half of it in one go. Holtzmann was biting her lip, trying not to laugh.

“That wasn’t me,” she said, fighting back a grin. You gave her a half-hearted glare.

“Obviously not,” you choked out. You finished clearing your throat as Holtzmann just sat and finished her pizza.

“So,” you said, punctuated by one final cough. “You said we were going somewhere after this?”

Holtzmann’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

“Damn right we are!” she exclaimed, making everyone in the restaurant (a lone old woman and a family of three) send annoyed glances in her direction. She paid them no mind and kept talking. “I know a guy through someone else that works as a TA at a school over here. Got him to hook me up with the key to the observatory upstairs.”

Your eyes went wide.

“Seriously!?”

“Mmmmyep. Got the place all to ourselves,” Holtzmann said, leaning back and looking proud of herself.

“Then why are we waiting around here!? Let’s go!” You got up in a rush, the legs of the chair scraping across the floor, and grabbed all the trash to throw away. You slam dunked it in the garbage and when you turned you found a very bouncy, smiley Holtzmann standing right behind you. She grabbed your hand and practically pulled you out the door, while waving a theatrical goodbye to the mostly empty restaurant.

You both jumped in the car, and sped to your destination.

 

* * *

 

You arrived at the empty parking lot outside the science building. The floors rose up above you into the dark sky, with only the barely-there glow of the hallway night lights showing through the glass of the front door. Holtzmann had already taken out the key and was unlocking the front door.

“The nerd only gave me the key to the front and the one to the observatory. Apparently he didn’t want me to ‘break anything’,” she said, complete with finger quotes. You snorted. _Obviously_ she had never broken anything in her life.

Holtzmann swung the door open, about to hold it for you when she paused like she was remembering something, and jogged back over to the car. From the back seat, she grabbed an enormous duffel bag that she slung over her shoulder and hauled back over to the door.

“What’s that for?” you asked.

“Surprise,” she replied cryptically, before opening the door for you.

You entered the eerily quiet hallway with Holtzmann behind you. She apparently knew where she was going, so you made sure to stick close and follow her to wherever she was headed. The shadowy hallways made a chill go up your spine, which did not go unnoticed.

“Don’t worry,” Holtzmann said, snaking one arm around your waist and flexing with the other. “If a ghost shows up I’ll protect you.”

You giggled, and the chill was replaced by a warm and tingly feeling all the way down to your toes. You knew it was mostly a joke, but the promise made you happy nonetheless.

After a few minutes you found the elevator, and went up approximately a million floors before finally reaching the top, where you assumed the observatory was. Still keeping you pressed up against her side, Holtzmann led you around the maze of corridors until you reached a room with a small plaque that declared itself as the Naomi Pollock Observatory. Holtzmann unstuck herself from you and pulled out another key from her pocket to unlock the door.

She flipped on the lights and dumped the duffle bag unceremoniously on the floor before whirling around and gesturing toward the huge telescope.

“What’cha think?”

You gazed up in amazement, spinning slowly and taking in all the machinery and mirrors above you. You looked back down at Holtzmann. She was looking at you like you were the sun.

“It’s beautiful,” you said.

“It’s okay,” she replied, scrunching up her nose. “Probably about the third prettiest thing in here. After you and me, obviously.”

You smiled down at your feet and hoped the blush spreading across your face wasn’t too obvious.

“So, um…” you said, when you thought you could finally say something coherent. “Are we gonna look at some stars?”

“Is that what we came here for?”

You watched Holtzmann as she went over to the telescope to do… whatever you had to do to make it useable. When she was all done she looked into the eyepiece, seemed happy, and called you up to look.

“All righty, so you’re just gonna look into this little thing here,” she pointed to the eyepiece, “and unless everything goes terribly wrong, you should be able to see our guy Orion.”

You looked into the telescope, feeling more important than you probably should, and sure enough there was the constellation. When you were ready, Holtzmann began moving the telescope around to different coordinates, showing off the constellations and stars that she knew. She whispered each one in your ear, her lips tickling your skin.

She was midway through a spiel on Venus when you couldn’t take it anymore and turned your head. Your nose brushed hers, and she froze mid-sentence. It was like the whole world had stopped around you. You were so close you could feel her breath on your lips. You swallowed the nervous lump in your throat. All you had to do was lean forward just that much more. Close the gap. All you had to do…

“Oh!” she shouted abruptly, breaking the spell. “I just remembered, there’s one little thing I gotta take care of, just excuse me for one itty bitty minute here…”

Holtzmann walked back over to the door to retrieve the duffle bag, and once again tugged it up over her shoulder.

“I’ll be back soon,” she promised, as she walked backwards out the door. “If I’m not back in ten minutes, send a rescue team.”

And with that she was gone, leaving you in the empty observatory room that felt a lot colder than before, and leaving a frustrated pit in your stomach. Why hadn’t you just _kissed her_? You sighed, turning back to look through the telescope. Hopefully you’d get another chance or two before the night was over.

After about eight or nine minutes Holtzmann sprinted back into the room.

“OKAY,” she said, leaning on the doorframe and pretending she wasn’t slightly out of breath. “I’m gonna need you to come down here and cover your eyes.”

“…What?”

“Come oooon, we haven’t got all night.” She waved her hand in a “come hither” motion, so you walked over to her. “Now close your eyes…”

You complied, still extremely confused.

“Why do I need to close my eyes?”

“For the surprise!”

“O… kay.”

You did as you were told and she took your hands and started leading you to wherever you were going. You took a couple of turns before you heard a door opening.

“Okay, so there’s some steps here, try not to fall over,” Hotlzmann said.

“Jillian, can’t I just open my eyes? I’ve never even been in this building before, I don’t know where I’m going anyway,” you replied.

“No! That’ll ruin the surprise. Duh.”

You rolled your (still closed) eyes and sighed, but acquiesced and surprisingly made it up the stairs without falling flat on your face, and with only one accidental boob grab.

You heard another door open, and Holtzmann ushered you through to what you could only assume was outside. There was a cool breeze floating past you, and you could hear the sounds of cars below.

“Okay,” Holtzmann said. “You can open your eyes now.”

You followed her instructions, and looked around. You were on the roof like you thought, with the city far beneath you and an endless night sky up above. The dome of the observatory sat in the middle, and on one side a heap of blankets and pillows was piled next to it.

“Tadaaaaa!” Holtzmann exclaimed, doing spirit fingers towards the blankets. “Thought we could do some actual star gazing.”

You looked over at her, fighting back tears. Her face dropped.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No! No, I just…” you paused to wipe away a tear that threatened to fall. “This is one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.”

Holtzmann chuckled in relief.

“Man, what kinda shitty dates have you been on?” she asked as she took your hand and led you over to the blankets.

“Coffee mostly. Lots and lots of coffee.”

“Sounds boring,” Holtzmann said, flopping down dramatically.

“Yeah,” you said as you snuggled up to her. “I definitely prefer spending my time with you.”

You lost track of time just sitting in a comfortable silence, watching the stars twinkle through the atmosphere. The crescent moon hung just above the skyline, partly hidden behind a veil of thin cloud. Holtzmann’s steady breathing was calming as you lay next to her, fingers still intertwined with hers. You couldn’t remember a time when you felt so relaxed. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see a gentle smile on Holtzmann’s face.

You were the first to break the silence.

“Hey, Jillian?” you said quietly.

“Mmm?” was her equally quiet response.

“Can… can I kiss you?”

Silence. And then…

“What do you think?”

Holtzmann shifted and suddenly her lips were on yours, as soft as you thought they’d be, but with enough burning energy to power all of her nuclear gadgets at once. You kissed back like she was an oasis in a desert, like this was the last thing you were ever going to do (and if it was, who was complaining?). Her arms circled around your waist, pulling you closer to her, like she couldn’t stand there being even a molecule of space between your bodies. At some point – you weren’t quite sure when – your fingers had become tangled in her hair, brushing through the messy curls.

You moaned against her lips, and felt a chuckle against your own. Holtzmann pulled back, and you followed her mouth for a second, not wanting to stop, wanting her to kiss you until morning. The look in her eyes made you feel like you were on fire as she lowered her lips to your collar bone, ghosting kisses along it, leaving a tingling in their wake. Her mouth was on your neck, kissing and sucking and-

“Hey, who’s up here!?”

The shout made you jump, and your head smacked painfully into the observatory dome behind you. You looked down at Holtzmann, panicking and giving her a stare that you hoped read as, “Who the hell is that? Are we not supposed to be up here? Please tell me you asked for permission to be up here!”

“Okay,” she whispered, her face scrunched in half-hearted apology. “So I miiiiight have broken the lock on the door up here.”

“Jillian _oh my god_!”

The security guard turned her flashlight on the two of you, tangled in blankets on top of a roof that your date had broken the lock to. You squinted up at her face through the blinding light. She didn’t say anything, waiting for one of you to explain.

“Evening, ma’am,” Hotlzmann said cordially. “Nice night, isn’t it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo here's chapter two! I wasn't planning on doing a second chapter to this (and definitely not one that was so long oops), but several people asked so nicely I couldn't help it. There are some parts I'm not completely satisfied with, but hopefully it lives up to expectations!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You thought it would be the coolest thing to go on a ghostbusting mission with your girlfriend. But when the opportunity came along, it turns out you may not have been as prepared as you thought.

“Holtzmann, please put down the blow torch.”

“But I neeeed it.”

“You can use it without putting another hole in the ceiling.”

“Are you suurreee?”

You laughed at Holtzmann and Erin as they continued to argue, walking around the room and coming dangerously close to starting multiple fires. You had the day off for once, and you got to spend it watching your girlfriend work on some amazing new creations.

Your _girlfriend_. It had been two months now since your first date, and you still couldn’t help but smile at the word.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Holtzmann asked with a grin as she put the (now, thankfully, turned off) blow torch down and leaned back seductively on her workbench.

“Just thinking about how pretty you are,” you answered.

“Aww shucks, little ol’ me?”

“Yes, little ol’ you,” you said with a smile. You leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. She lay back completely on the workbench, fanning her face.

“You sure know how to make a girl feel special.”

“Holtz, you’re lying on like three different radioactive pieces of equipment,” Abby said as she walked by.

“Worth it!”

You were about to tell her to get up, when you were interrupted by the phone ringing. Everyone’s eyes went over to Kevin as you all waited expectantly for him to pick up the phone. He looked back at you guys, goofy smile as always, and gave a little wave.

“Kevin, the phone!” Erin shouted.

“Oh, yeah.” He picked it up, said yes, no, maybe, yes, and then hung up. Everyone continued to stare at him. “Is this a staring contest? I’m not very good at those.”

“What did the person on the phone say?” Patty asked.

“Right! Thanks for reminding me!” He sounded like it had been days instead of seconds. Patty rolled her eyes and sighed. “They said something about a ghost at a construction site… I think.”

It took several more minutes and a phone call back to the caller for the others to get the information about the case. Holtzmann had gone back to working on her gizmos, and was currently making a couple of adjustments to some kind of small gun. If “adjustments” included smacking it with a rubber mallet to get the pieces to fit together.

“Remember last week when you said you wanted to come ghost hunting sometime?” Holtzmann asked.

“Y-yeah?” You flinched as she gave the thing one last, solid whack.

“Wanna come?”

“Seriously!?” You asked with eyes as wide as saucers.

“Yep,” she said with a proud grin. “And it took a whole lotta convincing, so…”

“So…?”

“It was pretty hard; I think I should _definitely_ get a thank you kiss.”

You rolled your eyes, but leaned over the workbench to give her a kiss anyway. She smiled as she kissed you back, and your stomach did a little somersault. She pulled back, and you were grinning like an idiot.

“Okay! I don’t have another proton pack lying around, so you get…” Holtzmann paused for dramatic effect, “THIS!”

She held up the battered looking pistol and looked at you expectantly.

“Uh, thanks?” you said, confused. “What does it do?”

“It’s a proton pistol! It blasts ghosts! I haven’t tested it yet but it should be fine.”

“ _Should_ be?”

“Yeah, I’m like 73 percent sure it’ll work,” she said, waving off your concerns.

“73!?” you shouted, looking down at the device in your hands, suddenly noticing all the loose wires and possibly a missing part. “What about the other 27 percent?”

“It doesn’t work. Or it blows up.”

“It could _blow up_!?”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“I think I should worry about it a little.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” Holtzmann said, rolling her eyes as if it was so obvious. “I said on our first date I’m gonna protect you from ghosts. You won’t even have to use it. Pinkie promise.”

She held out her hand, pinkie finger extended. You sighed, linking your pinkie with hers.

“If the ghost kills me I’m coming back to haunt you.”

 

* * *

 

Once you all knew exactly where you were going, the hearse was loaded up and ready to go. Twenty-two terrifying minutes (and several reminders of “you should actually be sitting down to drive, Holtzmann”) later, you arrived thankfully in one piece at your destination.

The group met with the man who had made the call. He seemed very hesitant to be anywhere near the area.

“So, can you tell us anything about your experiences with this ghost?” Abby asked him.

“All I know is, we were working on this place when weird shit started happening. Can I go now?”

“What kinda weird shit?” asked Patty. “Like _Exorcist_ weird? Because Imma be honest, I am not equipped to deal with that kinda situation right now.”

“If more than six people have vomited pea soup I have to go back to the lab and pick up some extra stuff,” added Holtzmann. The man gave her a look.

“What? No, no one’s been vomiting soup, stuff has been flying all over the place and people started acting really weird. I think the ghost has been possessing my workers,” he said.

“Wow, full blown human possession…” Erin said, amazed.

“Yeah, it’s great,” said the man, “I love being right where it could happen to me.”

“Okay, Mr. Scared-y Pants, go ahead and get out of here,” Abby said with an eye roll. As you watched him run far, far away, you wondered if this was the best mission for you to be on. With nothing but a possibly defective pistol to protect yourself.

“Okay, gang, let’s split up,” Erin said. “Pick a direction, and we’ll meet back up here in half an hour.”

“Hey, Fred Jones, what about her?” Patty asked, gesturing at you.

“Dibs!” Holtzmann shouted, linking her arm with yours.

“I just assumed she’d be going with Holtz,” Erin answered with a shrug.

“Yeah, going with me to _beat_ you guys at finding the ghost first!” Holtzmann began pulling you away towards a doorway.

“This isn’t a competition!” Erin shouted back.

“If it is, I’m okay with losing,” you heard Patty say as you and Holtzmann entered the next half-finished room.

You looked around as the two of you walked around, partly keeping an eye out for the ghost, but partly thinking about how weird this ghost hunt was. In your head, ghost hunting was always at night in some abandoned house out in the middle of nowhere, not in the middle of a city construction site right after lunch. It made sense, you supposed, you were just expecting something scarier.

Holtzmann gasped and gripped your arm tightly, pulling you from your thoughts.

“What!? What is it!?”

She turned to you with a grin from ear to ear, and pointed at an excavator.

“I’ve always wanted to drive one of those!”

She took off running, almost knocking you over in the process, and climbed up into the driver’s seat. You watched her as she examined the controls, probably looking for the keys. Which she likely wouldn’t find, since most people (Holtzmann not included) don’t just leave the keys in the ignition on a regular basis.

“You think I can hotwire this thing?”

“I’m pretty sure you could,” you replied, “but I think the real question is _should_ you?”

“Obviously.” Holtzmann rolled her eyes. “I’d look amazing.”

“You always look amazing.” In response she draped herself across the seat, proton pack and all, and propped her leg up on the control panel.

“I try.” You snorted, and told her to get down.

“I thought we were competing to see who could find the ghost fastest.”

As if on cue, there was a loud crash in the other room, and the both of you jumped to alert. Your heart was beating a million miles a minute and, as you stood there frozen, you found yourself thinking again that tagging along might have been a mistake.

Holtzmann practically leaped off the excavator and started rushing to the source of the noise. She turned around and was surprised to find you still standing in the same place.

“Coming?”

“I’m gonna, uh, stand here in this room. Right here. With this pistol.” You pulled the gun out. “For backup.”

“Aww, you’re cute when you’re scared,” Holtzmann teased.

“Go ahead without me, I’ll catch up when I can finally feel my legs again,” you told her.

“Okay!” she shouted, already halfway through the door. “If you see a ghost remember to point the gun the right way!”

You let out a forced laugh, and focused on getting yourself under control. There was probably a ghost in the next room, and your girlfriend had gone to fight it. You tried to tell yourself that she’s a professional, and she could do it on her own.

Something loud thundered to the ground behind you. You jumped ten feet in the air and turned to look, but there was nothing there. You clenched your shaking hands and took deep breaths.

“You’re fine, everything is fine…” you muttered under your breath.

“Yes, don’t worry, this will only hurt a little bit.”

Your head whipped up to find a woman, hanging ten feet in the air, glowing green and oozing goopy ectoplasm. You screamed bloody murder and ran, hoping you were going in the right direction to find Holtzmann. The ghost’s laughter followed you and you knew you couldn’t stop running or she’d get you.

Of course, that was when you ran straight into a dead end. You turned to see the ghost slowly advancing down the hallway. You fumbled with the pistol, and held it up.

“Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot you!”

The ghost paused for a moment, and you took it as your chance. You prayed the gun wouldn’t blow up in your hands as you pulled the trigger.

The good news was; it didn’t blow up. The gun let out a little spark and a fizz, and the ghost laughed. She flew forwards, slammed right into you, knocking you to the ground and knocking you unconscious.

 

* * *

 

You woke up a few seconds later. You were on your feet, which was weird because you didn’t remember getting up. What was weirder was… you couldn’t feel your legs. Or your arms. Or your anything. It was like waking up in the middle of the night with a numb foot, only it was your entire body. And that body started walking by itself.

You heard Holtzmann shout your name as she came skidding into the hallway.

“Are you okay!? I heard screaming!”

 The ghost turned to her and gave her a smile. You tried to shout, to warn her, to do anything, but the ghost was too strong.

“Yes, I’m fine. Something just startled me, that’s all.”

_Come on_ , you thought. _That doesn’t even sound like me!_

Holtzmann put her hand on her chest and sighed dramatically, after she had caught her breath.

“For a second there I thought you were attacked by a ghost.”

“So did I,” said the ghost with a laugh, and held up the pistol. “I found out this thing is broken, by the way.”

“Hey, looks like you still have both hands. I’d call that a success,” Holtzmann said as she took the still smoking gun and shoved it in her pocket. “Guess you’re stuck with me now.”

The ghost put your hand around Holtzmann’s waist. _Don’t touch her!_

“Don’t-!” leapt from your mouth, before the ghost forced your mind back again.

Holtzmann stared at you, looking a little concerned.

“Don’t, uh, worry!” the ghost said, pulling her closer. “I definitely will not leave your side from now on.”

A relieved sigh fell from Holtzmann’s lips as she relaxed and slung her own arm around your shoulders.

“Hell yeah!” she shouted, and it bounced and echoed around the room. “We’re gonna kick this ghost’s ass before it knows what’s what!”

The ghost used your mouth to laugh, and you felt like throwing up. Your only hope it seemed was being able to break through long enough to make your girlfriend realize there was something wrong.

 

* * *

 

The three of you got back to the main lobby to meet up with the others, who had obviously found no ghosts.

“Any luck?” Abby asked. A chorus of “nothing” hung in the dusty air.

“Maybe the ghost only cares about construction workers?” Patty suggested.

“We should’ve kept that guy here. We could’ve used him as bait,” Abby said, frustrated.

“It was pre-tty scary back where we were,” Holtzmann said with a grin. “Maybe we should all go check it out.

The others seemed to think that could be a good lead, but the ghost playfully swatted her arm.

“Holtzmann is just making fun of me, something just fell nearby and scared me,” the ghost said with a laugh. There was a beat of silence. “What?”

Patty was the first to speak up.

“Since when do you call her Holtzmann?”

“Uh…” you could feel the ghost panicking inside you. “I just felt like it?”

Holtzmann quickly untangled herself from your body, taking a few steps back. You could see her shaking a little.

“What’s my first name?” she asked, the most scared you’d ever seen her.

“Come on, everyone,” the ghost said, trying to keep calm. “I’m obviously me.”

“What’s. My first. Name?” Holtzmann repeated.

You could see what the ghost was planning to do, and it scared you. You were fighting as hard as you could, banging your psychic fists against the walls of this prison it had you trapped in. It was no use. The ghost was going to hurt your girlfriend, and you couldn’t stop it.

The ghost used your arms to grab Holtzmann from behind and held her in a choke hold. You screamed inside your own head, but it did nothing.

The others jumped to action, pulling out their proton wands.

“No! Don’t shoot! You’ll hurt her!” Holtzmann shouted. You could hear in her voice that she was fighting back tears.

“Then how are we supposed to get the ghost out!?”

“You don’t,” said the ghost, with an evil smile that dropped as quickly as it had appeared. “I was taken from my lover before my time, and now I’m going to take this one from you.”

“No, take me instead!” Holtzmann shouted.

“Jill-!” escaped your lips before the ghost shoved your consciousness back down again. She huffed.

“Or maybe I’ll take both of you down,” the ghost said, squeezing Holtzmann’s neck tighter. “You two can be together in the afterlife. Aren’t I nice?”

“STOP HURTING HER!” you shouted, and for a moment you could feel your arms loosening their grip. The sudden burst disoriented the ghost, making it stumble backwards. Holtzmann stumbled back to the rest of the group as they watched you struggle, not knowing how to help.

“Don’t-”

You fell to the floor, and felt the pain in your knees for a second before the ghost took back over.

“How dar-”

Your body writhed on the floor while you kicked and screamed and clawed in your mind. You slammed your fists against the ground, wishing it would stop. You think you heard the others screaming your name, Holtzmann’s voice drowning out the others.

You focused on her voice, letting everything else fall away. You used her voice as an anchor, to pull yourself back into your body, trying to banish the ghost once and for all.

“GET OUT OF ME!” you shrieked, and you could feel the words moving through your lips, stronger than before. You weren’t sure how to describe it, but you could feel yourself pushing the ghost from your mind. It almost slipped back in a couple of terrifying, heart-stopping times, until finally there was an overwhelming feeling of emptiness inside as the ghost was forced out of your body and into its own form.

You heard the others shouting and firing their weapons as you collapsed completely to the ground, head pounding, more painful than you’d ever felt before. You fought to stay awake, but your senses were all coming back to you, crushing and entirely too much for you to take. As your eyes were closing and you let yourself fall into the darkness, you could see the vague shape of the ghost being sucked into something, and heard Holtzmann’s voice shouting your name one more time.

 

* * *

 

You woke up a few hours later, at home in your own bed. Your head still hurt, but it wasn’t as bad as before, and the back of your mouth had a gross phlegmy taste.  You groaned and went to sit up, only to be engulfed by the tightest hug ever. All you could see were messy blonde curls.

Holtzmann sat there for a minute, practically crushing you in her grip, not wanting to let go of you.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled into your neck. You pulled away, confused.

“For what?”

“I said I would protect you, and-and I didn’t!”

“Jillian, it’s not-”

“I left you alone, with my stupid gun that didn’t even work, and then, I couldn’t even figure out you were possessed,” Holtzmann said, her head hung low, staring at her clenched fists and avoiding looking at you. You put your fingers under her chin, and lifted her gaze to yours.

“Jillian,” you said firmly. “It’s not your fault.”

“It is m-“

“It’s not. It was a freak accident, and I’m fine. I was the one who wanted to go with you guys anyway. And if you weren’t there, I probably wouldn’t have been able to break free, and I’d be dead right now. So thank you, by the way.” She didn’t reply. The silence in the room was deafening. “I promise, I’m fine.”

There was another heavy pause before Holtzmann spoke again.

“You _are_ fine,” she said with a shaky wink. She was still clearly upset, but you appreciated the effort.

You clutched her hands tightly, and kissed her slowly, as if it would somehow stop her from blaming herself. When you pulled away, Holtzmann sighed and rested her forehead on your shoulder.

“You know what I could go for right now?” you said quietly.

“Mmm?”

“Ice-cream and some B-movies. You wanna join me?”

Holtzmann paused for a moment, and you were worried she was gonna say no.

“You’re lucky,” she said instead, sitting up. “I bought some more ice-cream while you were passed out.”

“To replace all the ice-cream you ate last time?”

“They had my name on them,” Holtzmann countered.

“Only because you wrote your name right before you started eating!” You smacked her lightheartedly with a pillow.

“Still counts!”

She dodged a second hit by rolling off the side of the bed with a painful sounding _thump_. You peered over the edge to check if she was okay, only to find her laying seductively(-ish) on the floor.

“Looks like I’ve fallen for you,” she said with a grin.

You dropped the pillow on her face.

“Go get us some ice-cream, you big dork.” She threw the pillow back at you before getting up and making her way to the door.

“You know you love me,” she said.

“You’re right,” you replied with a smile. “I do love you.”

“Sounds pretty gay,” she said over her shoulder. You chuckled as you watched her turn the corner into the kitchen, and thought about how lucky you were to have her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said multiple times I probably wouldn't be writing more of this fic but inspiration struck and what are u gonna do?
> 
> I ended up not being too into this chapter by time I finished it (I think it's a little bit too all over the place) but it took me so long that I'm posting it god damn it
> 
> Sorry it's not as cute as the other chapters I want you to suffer with me friends

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo it's been like five years since I've actually done any creative writing, so apologies if this isn't as good as it could be! I also didn't intend for this fic to be this long (oops), but I'm sure no one is complaining. We're all in 2 deep now.


End file.
